Recently, a technique for reading images stored in a digital camera or a media card and, based on date information added to the images, displaying thumbnail images in the order of date on a display device such as an LCD has been known. For example, JP-A-2006-81129 describes a related art technique. In the technique, a display of a personal computer connected to a digital camera 1 is divided into a tree area and a thumbnail area, a plurality of year names is displayed in one row in the tree area, a list of thumbnail images of a year selected in the tree area is displayed.
However, in the related art technique described in JP-A-2006-81129, a list of thumbnail images of a selected year is displayed in the thumbnail area, so that when the number of images shot in the year is large, it takes time to find a desired image.
Additionally, as described in JP-A-2006-81129, it is possible that, when the display for displaying the thumbnail images is a display of a personal computer displays the thumbnail images, a large number of thumbnail images are displayed at one time on the display. However, for example, in a display device equipped on a multi-function device having a data communication function with a digital camera or a media card, and a printing function, a display area is smaller than that of the display of a personal computer. Therefore, a large number of thumbnail images cannot be displayed at one time and it takes time to find a desired image.